Bandit 65XL chipper

[pecontools]

I have just bought a Bandit 65XL chipper and I'm really dissappointed with it.

I was wondering if anyone else has had the same problems as me and if so how did they cure them.

The first problem is the feed wheels jamming all the time, even with nothing being fed. The bottom feed wheel is especailly bad. What bandit have done is create a large space under the feed wheel with a pit for gravel and stone etc to drop into. What happens though is the pit fills with bits of chip which then get dragged round by the feed wheel and either jam the wheel or sap power because the wheel is constantly picking chip up from underneath and moving it round.

I have tried leaving the bottom trap door open so the chip falls straight to the floor, but it still does it, not as much but still does it and the you end up with a huge pile of chip to clean up under the machine afterwards, not very good if you are clearing a long section of road side.

The other problem is that the discharge of the chip is so vicious, it bounces back out of the chip box and the dust and bits are all over the place. Any other chippers I have had were brilliant, very little or no cleaning up on small quick jobs, now we spend ten minutes throwing branches through and half an hour cleaning up after.

I was always under the impression bandit were the dogs b@llocks, I can put up with cleaning up but the feed wheel jamming problem is a nightmare, I have had the dealer out to it who have checked the pressures etc etc etc.

 

[jmack]

I have just bought a Bandit 65XL chipper and I'm really dissappointed with it.

I was wondering if anyone else has had the same problems as me and if so how did they cure them.

The first problem is the feed wheels jamming all the time, even with nothing being fed. The bottom feed wheel is especailly bad. What bandit have done is create a large space under the feed wheel with a pit for gravel and stone etc to drop into. What happens though is the pit fills with bits of chip which then get dragged round by the feed wheel and either jam the wheel or sap power because the wheel is constantly picking chip up from underneath and moving it round.

I have tried leaving the bottom trap door open so the chip falls straight to the floor, but it still does it, not as much but still does it and the you end up with a huge pile of chip to clean up under the machine afterwards, not very good if you are clearing a long section of road side.

The other problem is that the discharge of the chip is so vicious, it bounces back out of the chip box and the dust and bits are all over the place. Any other chippers I have had were brilliant, very little or no cleaning up on small quick jobs, now we spend ten minutes throwing branches through and half an hour cleaning up after.

I was always under the impression bandit were the dogs b@llocks, I can put up with cleaning up but the feed wheel jamming problem is a nightmare, I have had the dealer out to it who have checked the pressures etc etc etc.

i use to have this machine, first for the crud keep a blower and blow directly into the opening if its not too big it will force thru, does yer chip box have vents mine was ply wood so ileft one half of the box without a top i drilled holes in the front as well to help with the splashback, hope this helps

 

[transporter]

as said above you need to have your chipbox vented to prevent the blowback of chip, or it will happen with a bandit chipper,
check your blades are sharp and the anvil clearance is ok ,dull blades will smash the wood and bounce chip back at the feedwheels which dont help the problem, i,m assuming you have the twin feedwheel version as you have a trap door under the lower feed wheel,are the feedwheel pressures definatly ok? you can tweak them up slightly above spec and see if that helps and also check the clearances around the feedwheels, some machines suffer bad build quality

 

[Tree Machine]

I'm especially disappointed.

6 years ago I bought one of the previous versions of the 6" Bandit. After having rented every available size and style of chipper available over the course of a year, I was very certain of what I wanted, and that was a 6" capacity machine, what Bandit called a Model 65.

I custom-ordered mine and Bandit was really great in modding the chipper to my needs. They said the biggest motor they could put on it was a 35 horse, even though I wanted something in the 40's, I was OK with that. THREE knives in the disc instead of two, a permanent post to mount a vise and a front caster-wheeled jack instead of a simple jack stand. Autofeed plus and a modded outfeed chute so I had the option of blowing into a truck, or off to the side and into a wheelbarrow, trash can or pickup bed.

Soon after I got it I began more mods; upgraded hydraulics with an extra circuit to run hydrauluic accessories and hyd. tools, flow control to slow or speed the infeed wheel as needed, jack posts both sides rear in case the chipper needed to be jacked up, a spare tire mounted onboard and up-sized wheels instead of the undersized wimpy 13" ones. An electric winch mounted to the back of the chipper. This is the chipper I am still running and I love it. I have had many men feed this chipper and all have been quite amazed at how well the thing does.

Over a couple years, I shared all of these features with Bandit, the president, the engineers, the line workers. I travelled up to Bandit Industries 4 times in one year to offer final ideas, photo portfolios and a couple shirt-and-tie 'boardroom' presentations. They assigned me a production manager and a head engineer. My hope and wish was to bring to you guys the most advanced and versatile small chipper available on planet earth. I coined the term 'Personal Industrial Chipper' and we named the chipper the ' 6" Model EX ' as 'model 65' was somewhat ambiguous to the buyer.

Production was to begin alongside a 2-part article I agreed to write for TCIA in the May, 2003 issue. As I was writing the first of the two articles, and my lawyer drawing up the contract agreements, Bandit got cold feet and dropped the project without warning. Caution to all, if you're gonna sink two years of R and D into a project, don't do so on a handshake alone.

I still had to write and publish the two articles, though at Bandit's request they requested their name and any pictures not be included. Since both articles were basically wrapped around the chipper, and they were promised and scheduled for publication, I had to change and re-write the articles to follow through with that promise.

By the time all was said and done, I was about $20,000 in the hole and left standing in the cold. It took about a year to dig out of that hole and though bitter, I kept it to myself. My inexperience and lack of skill in formalizing a deal I took the blame and just carried on. I still had, and still have, the chipper that amazes me to this day and at a brand-new cost of around $16,000 it has led me through severel hundred thousand in income.

I have never said anything bad about Bandit Industries in a public forum, nor am I at this moment. However, they had the opportunity to bring to all of us one amazing piece of machinery, unlike any other out there, a deal where it was a win-win to all involved, especially the extreme end user. You.

The fact that this field-tested and proven machine has been bastardized with ineffective features really has my guts in a twirl.

All I can offer is, with that little drop chute, get a piece of steel sized exactly to the hole and have it welded in. There is a much better way to keep gravel from going into your chipper; don't feed gravel into the chipper. As far as feedback to Bandit Industries, someone should really let them know. I don't think I'm that guy.

Sorry so long-winded. If any of you wish to see the pictures of what the 6" bandit COULD have looked like, click here. The TCIA articles can be made available upon request.

 

[pecontools]

Thanks for your suggestions.

The hydraulic pressure is running at 1800, which is spec.

The problem with the jamming feedwheel is especailly bad when feeding deadwood. Infact, you don't have to feed anything!!

I demonstrated the problem to the bandit engineer by getting a shovel load of chip from the back of the truck and put it little by little onto the bottom feed wheel, the feed wheel then took it over the top and dumped it down thru the gap on the flywheel side of the bottom feed roller into the pit underneath.

As soon as the pit filled (one shovel full) the feed roller started to jam. I think as Transporter says, the gaps either side of the feed roller may be too big. But all the other chippers I have had have had like a steel plate hugging the bottom roller underneath about 1/2" clearance. Any debris that the feed roller picks up is just fed around and back out into the hopper without any jamming.

I may try and email bandit in the US and see if they have a solution to the problem. Modding the shoot and chip box will cure the debris flying all over problem but I think it may be a major design fault for the feed roller.

I have spoke to four other Tree Surgeons in the UK who say they experience the same problem, but just put up with it.

I have just bought the machine for £18,000 it's done 8 hours so far and it is doing my head in constantly forward and reversing it to un jam it every two minutes.

 

[Tree Machine]

Mine has only one feed wheel, works perfectly, rarely jams. I wonder what the benefit of the second feed wheel is? I can understand it on feeding big-diameter logs, but this is a 6", and really you don't want to run 6" material through it all day.

Here's the Model 65XL.

 

[transporter]

I may try and email bandit in the US and see if they have a solution to the problem.

good luck with that one all they will do is refer you to global as their dealer, the single roller machines dont suffer with the problem as the roller can ride over the debris as it moves up and down whereas the bottom roller on the twin set up is fixed, what part of the uk are you in out of curiousity?

 

[pecontools]

I'm in West Yorkshire, near Halifax.

I did think about buying a pressure guage and tweeking the pressure up to 2000, but then thought, I shouldn't need to, if you pay a lot of money for a machine designed to do a job and that machine doesn't do the job, then it should be down to the supplier to sort it until it does.

The bandit with the single feed wheel is the bandit I had seen perform before, the second feed wheel is good for dragging in and snapping those forked limbs and it does do the business. It very nearly performs as good as my Gandini 8" ( which I wish I hadn't got rid of ) when it isn't jamming up.

I'll see how we get on with Bandit, not had a reply as yet but it is the weekend. If I get no joy I may tweek the pressures just to see if it does make a difference, but the constant picking up and grinding of the chip must sap a lot of hydraulic power that could be being used for dragging in limby branches.

 

[jmcguiretree]

Is the hyd pump run by belts??On the bigger 200xp that we had at work we had the same problems.We found that on the gas models the pump run of a belt and it was always loose.On the newer diesel 200xp that we have now it seems to work much better because the pump is directly mounted on the motor.Check your belt because I bet that is were all of your feed roller problems are.

 

[adam]

I had 65 few years ago and it was like a bad joke. Bandit's guy told me in January that they fixed jamming problem...when it comes to this trap, you may consider tarp underneath it while you're chipping. sounds ridiculous but saves time on cleanup. 10 years ago I wouldn't even look at something other than Bandit, their chippers were real workhorses, not wimpy goats.

 

[pecontools]

Just been and checked belts, they are tight. The pump is mounted direct onto flywheel, which doesn't seem to slow. The power to the flywheel is good, the engine is a deutz and is very torquey, like I say, when it does feed right it feeds well.

Adam, at least Bandit know they have had a jamming problem, lets hope they admit it in their reply to me, I like you thought Bandit were the dogs b@llocks, not good looking, but built to do a job which they did well, good looks don't get the job done.

Will try the tarp idea, will save time when raining, nothing worse than trying to blow dust and chip in the wet!

 

[adam]

try old Gene Kelly's:
"I'm chipping in the rain
just chipping in the rain
what a glorious feelin'
I'm happy again..."
nobody gonna hear you enyway

 

[pecontools]

try old Gene Kelly's:
"I'm chipping in the rain
just chipping in the rain
what a glorious feelin'
I'm happy again..."
nobody gonna hear you enyway

Pleeease...no more, he says, head butting the computor desk.

 

[Tree Machine]

The direct-drive is one of the big features on this small machine. Maybe direct drive isn't the proper term. What is meant is there is no clutch to engage the chipper disc. When you hit the start button, the disc is spinning. Throttle up and you can start feeding just before it hits top end. This is one of the really nice user-friendly features, the time from zero to full feed is around 12 or 13 seconds. 7 or 8 of those seconds is the actual; starting/throttling up, the rest is the engine getting from idle to full RPM at which time you're in motion toward the brush. Very swift, and one of the sweet benefits of a small chipper that seperates it from its bigger chipper brothers.

However, time-suck problems like pecon is experiencing sorta wipe those benefits off the map, from a swiftness, efficiency aspect.

 

[pecontools]

Well I sent an email to Bandit Industries and told them of my problem with the chipper.

Waited for a week, no reply.

So emailed them again and told them I was discussing this issue on a worldwide arborist forum (no name mentioned) and that it appeared that my case was not an isolated case, the problem with the bandit chippers was getting about on the grapevine, so to speak and that I would love to go back onto the forum and tell everyone how good Bandit customer services were at sorting out my problem.

The next day I received a reply from Bandit saying how sorry they were to hear of my dissappointment with my machine and that they have contacted the dealer in the UK from whom I bought my machine and told them how to cure the bottom feed wheel jamming problem. All I had to do is contact my dealer and arrange to see them with the machine.

Being the weekend I haven't been able to contact them ,but I am eager to find out how they are going to solve the problem without major modification.

I will keep you posted.

 

[adam]

65 is just bad design, they should stop making it and start from scratch. Ask them about this R2D2 with all disco lights but no power whatsoever, disguised as a hatz engine, do they offer it as an option?

 

[Tree Machine]

Adam, its unfortunate you're less than happy, but to say the 65 is a bad design....are you talking about the single feature at the heart of this thread? To make a blanket statement like 'bad design' without giving a single example of what you mean, well, that's just whining. If you're going to be a vague, fault-finding, disgruntled critic, at least tell us what the faults are. In asking that you be specific, here are some specific questions.

Your earlier statement about it being an underpowered wimpy goat, OK, but Bandit does not manufacture engines, so if your unhappiness is about power, is it fair to blame the chipper, or the motor that's on the chipper? Are you comparing your model to something like a big bad model 250XP or to another 6" capacity chipper by another manufacturer? What HP engine do you have on yours? Is it gas or diesel, and who manufactures the engine that's on your unit?

Running dull knives can easily give the impression of the machine being underpowered. Do you sharpen your knives weekly or do you run em to death and then flip them? If you do sharpen them, tell us how you go about it.

A maladjusted anvil will cause bigger, thicker chips to be created, requiring more power to make those chips; an easy fix.

Have you cleaned or ever replaced the air filter?

In suggesting Bandit stop making this machine and start from scratch, what suggestions do you have? Help us out here. If you're not happy with the design, what do you want different? How do YOU see it being improved?

Answering these questions can bring a number of benefits to the readership. First, if you'd be specific about a problem, we can maybe solve the problem for you, and that becomes a solution for everyone who has a Bandit 6". It also helps anyone interested in purchasing a new 6" to better know what options to order, what size engine, # of knives in the disc, etc.

Most importantly, by sharing something, anything specific you would be making a real contribution to this thread. We, in turn, could help you and if we can solve your problems, we can really amp the performance of your chipper, increase your efficiency, save you time and make you more money. I promise, this is better than badmouthing the model as a whole and being ticked off every time you run your machine. The floor is yours.

 

[adam]

dull knives are common excuse for all chipper makers, whatever is wrong, it's because of dumb operators shoveling gavel and chipping rakes. Not my case, sorry. Main problem that I had with 65 was distance between feeding roll and cutting wheel, no matter how sharp knives were, because of the DESIGN, pieces of wood were still jamming in this area. This problem I shared with other users of 65. I was told that "ribs" added in the area between roller(s) and wheel solved the problem. This problem does not occure on chippers with cutting wheel perpendicular (90 degrees) to the roller and shorter distance between them. Thats why I mentioned "redesign". When it comes to "wimpy", just don't offer anything below 35hp. "powerful, non plugging, no wrapping feed system" (Bandit flyer) wasn't my experience. By the way, Husqvarna stopped production of highly advertised model 335, and introduced alternative (334 and 338). I'm not intending to buy their product any time soon, i'm pretty happy with my collection of Stihl 200T's, but at least they admitted,if not directly, that their product did not meet consumer's expectations. I wish Bandit to overcome all problems with model 65,and introduce tough, reliable and powerful 6" chipper, matching Bandit's reputation. Long story short: more power, redesigned infeed (you know your competition better than I do, I'm positive, that you know exactly what I mean). ps. when it comes to chipping plastic shovels...

 

[rebelman]

When my Bandit was newer and had jamming problems, cleaning out the ball cock assembly solved the problem. Haven't had to do that in several years. Just remember how many turns of the screw you needed taking it out, locate and secure the ball and spring, then blast it with air pressure. Maybe that will help if your model has that feature.

 

[scouse]

Hi,
I have one of the old model 65's aswell and experience the same problems that Adam did. No matter how sharp the knives are and and how close they are to the anvil it just doesnt like chipping leylandii brash and especially small trimings. The chip is very stringy and the small trimmings just get stuck behind the roller.

I was told that "ribs" added in the area between roller(s) and wheel solved the problem.

I dont suppose you could elaborate on this please because i would really like to sort this problem out.I've even thought about maybe trying to convert it to cut at 90 degrees(time to get the oxy/acetylene out )
I also think that youll find the newer 65's cut at 90 degrees eliminating the above problem hopefully?

Adam How does your XL cope with chipping conifers etc? I also have a vermeer 625 which cuts at 90 degrees and chips conifer very well but the bandit is a better machine with its wider opening and more hp (only 5 but it seems to make a difference)

Interseting thread hope you get the fix Bandit has promised.

Cheers